Floyd Pars 14 Straight To Claim Seniors Title, Avenge Last Year’s Loss

Ray Floyd slammed the door on any would-be challengers with a string of 14 consecutive pars in the PGA Seniors Championship in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., claiming the title he blew a year ago.

Floyd turned a two-stroke lead into a five-shot victory Sunday and showed why he is one of golf’s great front-runners.

That reputation was damaged a year ago when, in the same tournament and on the same Champion course at the PGA Resort, he uncharacteristically blew a four-shot lead with eight holes to go and let Lee Trevino escape with the title.

Floyd finished with a solid 70 and a 277 total, 11-under par for his first victory of the year after three second-place finishes. The victory was worth $180,000 from the $1 million purse.

Trevino, on the mend from neck surgery and not yet a winner this year, birdied the last hole for a 71 and a tie for second at 282 with former club pro Larry Gilbert and Houston stock broker John Paul Cain, each of whom shot 69.

Bob Tway, emerging from a group of scrambling competitors, won his first tournament since 1990, defeating Nolan Henke on the second playoff hole at the MCI Classic in Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Tway, whose last PGA Tour victory came in the 1990 Las Vegas Invitational, put his tee shot three feet past the cup on No. 17. After Henke bogeyed the par-3 hole, Tway backhanded his tapin for the win. He fired a final-round 67 to finish a 9-under 275, earning a $234,000 check.

Henke, who also shot 67, birdied three of his final four holes to tie Tway. The pair waited nearly 2 hours until David Frost, a runner-up in three of his last five MCI Classic appearances, dropped in a birdie on No. 18 to join them.

Kirk Triplett of Pullman finished with a 71 for 283, eight strokes behind Tway.

Joakim Haeggman of Sweden shot a course-record, 6-under 66 in the third round of the Catalan Open before play was halted because of rain and gusty winds in Gerona, Spain. The third round was to be completed today.